Signed up Yet?

Have you signed up for our full-day symposium on March 22? Space is limited... and there'll be lunch and, after the afternoon sesssion, a toast with a very special cake for those attending. More on the cake in a later post, but in the meantime, check out our future events to read why you need to attend this event.

The Week in Morris (and More)

This week we were so excited to read that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is mounting an exhibit, The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy: British Art and Design from the Metropolitan's Collection. This runs from May 20 to October 26 of this year.

"Some thirty works from across the Museum's collections - including paintings, drawings, furniture, textiles, prints, and illustrated books, many of them rarely on view and united for the first time - will demonstrate the enduring impact of Pre-Raphaelite ideals as they were adapted by different artists and developed across a range of media. At a time of renewed appreciation for art of the Victorian age, the installation will direct fresh attention toward the Metropolitan's little-known holdings in this important area." The exhibition is made possible by the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust.

An adjunct exhibit will be William Morris: Textiles and Wallpaper, from February 3 to July 20.

~ As Toronto emerges from another polar vortex, and more snow falls, it's nice to know spring is happening somewhere! Click here for a lovely picture of the daffodils emerging at Red House. And click here to see the front door of Red House, through which visitors are now entering, something they haven't been able to do for ten years!

~ The British Council hosted a "Twitter Tour" of the Jeremy Deller exhibit, English Magic at the William Morris Gallery. You can experience it after the fact, right here.

~ Get a fashion/Morris fix right here, in a delicious video for a past exhibit at the V&A, The Cult of Beauty.

~ And, for an "awww" moment, here's a beautiful red setter, laying on his colour co-ordinated chair.

The image at the top is borrowed from the Met's site: Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, Birmingham 1833–1898 Fulham). The Love Song, 1868–77. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Fund, 1947 (47.26)

Re-discovered Treasures and The Week on Twitter

As noted on the William Morris Society (UK) website, an exciting discovery has been made in an attic room of Kelmscott House

RE-DISCOVERED TREASURES: Morris and Co. Embroidery Designs
Exhibition: 14th November 2013 - 13th February 2014

Re-discovered after many years, our current exhibition is of 10 previously unknown and unseen beautiful drawings for embroidery designs from Morris and Co.

The drawings were originally discovered in an attic room of Kelmscott House, Hammersmith and then disappeared before being brought back to the William Morris Society premises in the coach house of Kelmscott House This exhibition allows us an opportunity to have another fresh glimpse at the prolific creativity of Morris and his fellow designers whilst further research is currently underway to identify the pieces breathing new life into these newly re-discovered gems.


And on Twitter this week:

~ Kelmscott Manor has a very active YouTube channel! So much to see... check it out here.

~ The William Morris Gallery updated their "What's On" page on their website.

~ Red House is justly proud of their newly acquired Philip Webb water jug and tweeted a picture of it. They're also repainting (by brush) rooms so that they appear as they would have in Morris's time. Out with the white, in with the mustard!

And Morris gets the final word:

~The University of Maryland's Special Collections exhibit of Morris tweets as "How We Might Live" @WmMorrisUMD. They often quote the highly quotable Morris and this week a particular favourite was:

"No man is good enough to be another's master."

What he said!

Photography Lecture and the Week on Twitter

Diane Waggoner from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, visited the WMSC last Wednesday to give a lecture, Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism. Gorgeously illustrated, it provided fascinating links between the early days of photography and the PRB. There was a good crowd in room 179 at University College and later they enjoyed refreshments in the lovely Croft Chapter House. Pictured left are Diane and WMSC president Susan Pekilis.

We'll be back at this favourite venue for our day-long symposium in March. Have you registered?

As for Morris-related news, here's just some of the action on Twitter during the last week:

~ At the National Gallery of Art in Ottawa, an exhibition opened titled John Ruskin, Artist and Observer. It runs until May 11.

~ The always-interesting Tony Pinkney blogged about Capitalism and Climate Chaos. Here's the link to his blog.

~ William Morris's birthday was March 24, and it is celebrated annually by his admirers. While we at the WMSC will be celebrating here in Canada on March 22, the UK Society is hosting a fascinating talk given by Jan Marsh and Frank Sharp on recently discovered letters from Jane Morris "which radically revise the popular view of a silent, discontented invalid and reveal the range of her interests and opinions." Can't wait to hear more!

~ You can enjoy flipping through the online version of the Kelmscott Press edition of Morris's News from Nowhere, on the Morris Online Edition, courtesy of the William Morris Society (U.S.)

~  And check this out! An advetnure for children, but I`m sure many adults will be compelled to read it: Time and Tapestry, a William Morris Adventure.

The Week on Twitter

Are you coming to this week's WMSC lecture?

Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism
Diane Waggoner, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Wednesday, 12 February 2014
7:30 p.m.
Room 179, University College
15 King's College Circle
University of Toronto



Meanwhile, in the Twitterverse, there was some good reading and watching:

~ Jeremy Deller, who's English Magic show is on at the William Morris Gallery, is interiewed here about Morris and his socialism - a must read!

~ Only a week now to catch the National Gallery's Artists, Architects and Artisans exhibition, that members of our society visited last year. Here's a video featuring curator Charles Hill.

~ The Watts Gallery's exhibition, John Ruskin: Photographer and Draughtsman includes Ruskin's use of photography, which should provide an interesting link to our event next week, Photography and Pre-Raphaelitism. Here's a video.

~ You can help Kelmscott Manor be voted as the UK's " most inspiring museum or heritage visitor attraction." The nomination form is here.

WMSC 2014 Symposium: Morris and History

Check out the exciting details of our 2014 symposium on our Future Events page. In the meantime, you can also download our poster. Please forward it to your friends, distribute and post it early and often!

And don't forget to register!

The Week on Twitter

~ We at WMSC wished the twitterverse a Happy New Chinese Year of the Horse with this delightful Burne-Jones cartoon of Morris atop an Icelandic horse

~ The Island Wool Company blogged about Morris's trip to the Faroes, with some excerpts from his journal

~ From @boccabaciata, a photograph from the Harry Potter studio tour, which includes portraits of Tennyson and Morris

~ Kelmscott Manor is launching an Artist or Craft-maker in Residence. The Residency embodies the influence Kelmscott had on Morris and his associates, and reflects its relevance to a modern audience. 

~ A selection of articles on the Pre-Raphaelites on the Smarthistory site

AND...

The William Morris Gallery won the public voting stage of Connect10, a competition that teams up winning venues with 10 artists to run an event during Museums at Night. Kelvyn Smith, AKA Mr. Smith and his Letter Press Workshop will be appearing at the Gallery over the weekend of Thursday, May 15 to Saturday, May 17. Under Mr Smith’s expert guidance gallery visitors will use traditional type to create personal and political slogans that mean something to them. To set the mood they'll start the evening with a dramatic performance of one of Morris’s socialist chants. Keep checking the gallery's website for more details.